German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he will travel to the Western Balkan countries before the meeting of the Council of the European Union to be held next month, on June 23-24, respectively.

Scholz told German lawmakers that the Western Balkan countries have aspirations for EU membership and that the EU must live up to its commitments to the region.

“The six countries of the Western Balkans with aspirations for EU membership – Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo – have been involved in the multi-year reform process. Keeping our commitments to them is not just a matter of our credibility. “Today more than ever, their integration is also in our strategic interests,” he said, pointing to the influence of “outside powers” in the region, including Russia.

While Chancellor Scholz is in favor of the integration of the six Western Balkan countries into the EU, French President Macron has once again expressed his skepticism that the Balkan six should be part of the union.

France currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, and a summit of EU-Western Balkans leaders will be held on 23 June, when the EU Council meets.

France is also one of the skeptics about visa liberalization for Kosovo, and in its six-month presidency has not pushed the visa issue forward in the Council.

On the other hand, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in the meeting he had in Berlin with Prime Minister Kurti, said that he would personally engage in meetings with European leaders to lift Kosovo visas.